The Obibo of Tozàn were a warlike people, often resolving their differences with other peoples through war. Throughout history, there were few generations completely spared from war, and the Obibo developed martial traditions with the weapons and ways they favoured in war. Over time, the traditions were formalised into proper arts, used not only to become a stronger warrior, but also a better person through physical and spiritual labour. There were three principal Obibo martial arts: dambènìà, edafènìà and otènìà.

Edafènìà

Edafènìà was the oldest martial art of the Obibo, built on over a thousand years of tradition. Edafènìà was the way of the bow, a weapon connected to the Obibo at the level of the soul. As such, edafènìà was practised competitively by ko-aje, yako-uyó and ela-aje, and practised as introspective training for the body and spirit by every other caste as well. Yako-uyó were the only ones who could aspire becoming an edafènìàgùn, a master, because they could and had to dedicate most of their time towards achieving martial greatness. However, law required every male ko-aje over 17 and under forty to practise edafènìà (or otènìà, depending on the district) once weekly for a few hours, so a significant portion of the population could wield a bow.

The duality of edafènìà was never denied: the bow was a weapon for war, it was the weapon for war, but it was also a means to train oneself in other aspects of life. As such, general form was most important. Hitting the target came as a result from achieving a good form, which consisted of stance, position of the feet, attitude, holding the bow properly, raising the bow, drawing the bow, the release and stance after the release. There were different edafènìà styles, which were taught at different schools, but the generic principles were similar everywhere. For some edafènìàsé, archery was not about shooting the arrow but about going through the motions of achieving a good form, sometimes even without placing an arrow on their bow. It required full concentration to do properly, so one had to empty the mind first, which made edafènìà challenging enough, even without an arrow.

Of course, most edafènìàsé did practise for war, but for this form was still more important than accuracy or being able to aim well. The ko-aje, who made up the bulk of the archers in the army, simply did not have the time to become proficient marksmen, but a good form could always be achieved. With that wisdom, the yako-uyó captains of the archers did the aiming for their ko-aje subordinates and simply ordered them where to point their arrow before shooting. As a result, edafènìà allowed the Obibo to field a great number of accurate longbowmen, relying in the form of the students and the marksmanship of the masters.

Not every yako-uyó was a master, however. To decide who was the better archer there was a long history of edafènìà as a sport between two people. Despite its lack of confrontation and action, it was the most popular spectator sport in Tozàn, possibly because so many people would have had some proficiency with edafènìà and were thus interested in seeing masters at work. Two contestants would shoot an arrow in turns over several rounds. Each round, the goal was to hit a circular target consisting of a small centre, the eye, and its surroundings, the head. The eye was worth 3 points and the head was worth 1 point. In the first round, the target was 38 metres away, the eye 8 centimetres in diameter and the total target 32 centimetres. In the second round, the target was 74 metres away, the eye 24 centimetres in diameter and the total target 96 centimetres. In the third round, the target was 114 metres away, the eye 32 centimetres in diameter and the total target 160 centimetres. There were farther distances and additional target sizes, but most games took 3 rounds or fewer to decide a winner.

Each round, the first one to have more than 2 points lead over their opponent and at least 15 points won. If a 2 point lead could not be achieved, the round continued until both contestants had emptied their quivers of 30 arrows, and the round would end in a draw. If a round was won with a more than 5 point lead, the game ended then and there. Otherwise, the next round would begin and the game would continue until one contestant had won 2 rounds. If a contestant had shot 30 arrows and received 0 points, the round would go to their opponent regardless of their opponent's points.

The rules of edafènìà allowed masters to weed out bad opponents quickly, but were also designed so they could last until a round with such a large target distance that even a master would get 0 points and the other master perhaps just 1 or 2. Games could last hours, but tournaments and competitions used runners and drum signals to allow the game to proceed as smoothly as possible. Generally, plenty of food was eaten at such events and people would spend the entire day just watching masters of the bow, edafènìàgùn, duke it out over ever increasing distances.